Jul 19, 2015

CCD Opposes Bill Linking Social Security Disability To Transportation Bill

     The Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) is an umbrella coalition of about 100 groups involved in helping people with disabilities. You don't hear much about CCD but it's a big deal in Washington. This is from a letter that CCD sent on July 16 to each U.S. Senator:
... [W]e write to express the Task Force’s strong opposition to enacting legislation that cuts Social Security, including Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to offset the costs of unrelated programs in the surface transportation reauthorization bill. ...
We understand that at least two Social Security policy changes are currently being considered as offsets for legislation to extend highway transportation funding. 
One measure would eliminate or reduce concurrent SSDI benefits for individuals who attempt to work – as encouraged by law – but lose their job through no fault of their own and qualify for Unemployment Insurance (UI). ...
The SSDI and UI programs were established for different purposes and largely serve different populations. Receiving UI and SSDI concurrently is legal and appropriate. This has been the long - standing position of the Social Security Administration and of the courts. ...
A second measure would bar payment of Social Security or SSI benefits to individuals with outstanding warrants for their arrest. The Social Security Act already prohibits payments to individuals fleeing from law enforcement to avoid prosecution or imprisonment, and the people who would be affected by the CUFF Act are, in fact, neither fugitives nor felons. Almost none of the individuals who would be affected by this pro vision are actual fugitives from justice and most of the warrants in question are many years old and involve minor infractions. Moreover, the Social Security Administration (SSA) attempted to administer a similar provision for a number of years, with catastrophic effect for many vulnerable people with disabilities and seniors , employing procedures that did not withstand judicial scrutiny. If Congress adopts this provision, it would return SSA to a policy that was overly broad and led to much unintended harm to seniors and people with disabilities who have not been convicted of any crime but who rely on Social Security and SSI. ...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Would this actually save any substantial money? As Charles had mentioned in a previous post, now that all the unemployment extensions have been exhausted, most claimants are no longer eligible for UE benefits while waiting for their SSD claims to go through. And most new claimants who draw UE will only receive it during the 5 month SSD waiting period.

Anonymous said...

I don't understand how on one hand the republicans can say social security is going broke and then turn around and want to fund the transportation bill with some of it.

Anonymous said...

How does the congress propose to take the money? There is no law allowing them to bill Social Security. Social Security funds do not come from the government. It is illegal to divert someone's Social Security check without involving an attorney. So, how does the government plan to get it's hands on the cash?